A fully mature Wolly mammoth was on average between 10-12 feet tall and weighed in at 6-8 tons. Even though the word “mammoth” implies an enormous creature, Wooly mammoths were not actually the largest mammoth that ever existed. The Wooly mammoth’s coat was made out of very long and dark hairs and insulated by a thick layer of fat underneath a fine haired under wool. Mammoths probably molted their coats during the spring much like Musk oxen. Wooly mammoths had very high shoulders where they probably stored a fat deposit. Their ears and trunk were smaller than modern elephants and their tusks were very large with the females being slightly smaller. Tusks were composed of a material known as ivory, or dentin. |
